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Colgate-Palmolive management to meet with JPMorgan

Meeting to be held in Chicago on November 30 hosted by JPMorgan.

30

Nov

CLColgate-Palmolive

$72.01

-0.75 (-1.03%)

10/11/17

RHCO

10/11/17UPGRADETarget $85RHCOBuy

Colgate-Palmolive upgraded to Buy at SunTrust

As previously noted, SunTrust analyst William Chappell upgraded Colgate-Palmolive to Buy from Hold and raised his price target on the stock to $85 from $65. Chappell says the recent three consecutive quarters of weak results is an "anomaly" given the company's long term track record of consistent mid-single-digit or higher organic growth. The analyst also points to reacceleration in the emerging market middle class growth and favorable foreign exchange conditions for the first time in years.

10/11/17

10/11/17UPGRADE

On The Fly: Top five analyst upgrades

Catch up on today's top five analyst upgrades with this list compiled by The Fly: 1. Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) upgraded to Buy from Hold at Jefferies with analyst Jeffrey Holford saying J&J's Pharma division is "under-modeled" by analysts and will drive above-consensus revenue and earnings growth. 2. Visa (V) and MasterCard (MA) were upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at Wells Fargo. 3. Colgate-Palmolive (CL) upgraded to Buy from Hold at SunTrust with analyst William Chappell saying the recent three consecutive quarters of weak results is an "anomaly" given the company's long term track record of consistent mid-single-digit or higher organic growth. 4. AbbVie (ABBV) upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at Cowen with analyst Steve Scala saying AbbVie "showed the best" of all the companies at Cowen's Annual Therapeutics Conference last week. 5. PayPal (PYPL) upgraded to Overweight from Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley with analyst James Faucette calling it among the few large companies that can deliver high-teens revenue and 20% EPS growth. This list is just a portion of The Fly's full analyst coverage. To see The Fly's full Street Research coverage, click here.

As previously reported, Societe Generale downgraded Colgate-Palmolive to Sell from Hold and lowered its price target to $66 from $72. Analyst Iain Simpson expects Colgate's 2017 pre-tax profit to be below 2011 level, with earnings growth driven by lower tax rates and share repurchases. Simpson said Colgate's new focus on investing aggressively in both price and A&P is the right move, but believes consensus is underestimating how long it will take to yield positive results and how much it will cost. The analyst views valuation as full given weak earnings growth.

AT&T Mobility has reached a tentative agreement with the Communications Workers of America in Mobility Orange contract negotiations. The four-year agreement, which will be submitted to the union's membership for a ratification vote in coming days, covers about 20,000 employees in 36 states and the District of Columbia - AT&T's Mobility Orange unit, which encompasses CWA Districts 1, 2-13, 4, 7 and 9.

Pfizer announced that the United States FDA has approved IXIFI, a chimeric human-murine monoclonal antibody against tumor necrosis factor, as a biosimilar to Remicade for all eligible indications of the reference product. The FDA has approved IXIFI as a treatment for patients with rheumatoid arthritis, Crohn's disease, pediatric Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis, ankylosing spondylitis, psoriatic arthritis, and plaque psoriasis.

Western Alliance Bancorporation announced that during the first quarter of 2018 Robert Sarver will transition from Chairman and CEO to Executive Chairman. In conjunction with Sarver's change in role, Ken Vecchione will be promoted to Chief Executive Officer, Dale Gibbons to Vice Chairman and Chief Financial Officer, and James Haught to President and Chief Operating Officer, all effective April 1, 2018.

Aqua America announced that President and CEO Christopher H. Franklin has been elected chairman of the board, effective Jan. 1, 2018. Franklin became CEO in July 2015 and has served on the board of directors since October 2015. He succeeds Nicholas DeBenedictis, former CEO, who will continue to serve on the board as chairman emeritus.